Forgotten Tomb Interview with guitarist and vocals Ferdinando “Herr Morbid” Marchisio.
Forgotten Tomb Interview
– What’s new in the world of Forgotten Tomb?
We just delivered the masters for our new album to Agonia Records and they’re in the process of manufacturing it. Promotion is being started, preorders are open, the album will drop on April the 17th. In the meantime we are playing some live shows.
– How was it recording the new album Hurt Yourself and The Ones You Love?
It was hard work but at the same time it has been a rewarding experience. Producer Terje Refnses is a skilled and experienced guy, and he managed to get the best out of us and guide us towards the best choices for the sound on the album. We took a “old-fashioned” approach to the recording, limiting the use of softwares to a minimum and mostly trying to play as tight and live as possible. We also worked on our own overnight doing some overdubs and stuff like that. It was good to get those 2 weeks off and focus only on the album without too many distractions. we wanted to have a more natural and organic sound compared to the last 2 albums and I think we succeeded.
– How did you go about making the artwork?
We didn’t want to use pictures from other artists, so we decided to shoot the cover picture on our own together with a professional photographer. Our bass-player Alex took care of those sessions and I think they turned out great. He also took care of putting together the booklet, while we were recording the album. We sat down at night and worked on it all together, giving ideas and choosing the style for it. I think it turned out good.
– What is the strangest inspiration you’ve ever had for a song?
I am usually inspired by everyday’s life, personal experiences, urban misery and by my own sick ideas. Sometimes I get ideas for the lyrics when I’m a little dizzy with booze. This time I took many ideas from my dreams, since I started dreaming a lot of strange things. Strangely enough, the dreams stopped after we finished tracking the album. Lyrics are quite sick on this new album.
– Do you have any tours coming up in the near future?
We are playing some live shows in Italy and a few abroad. Proper tours will be announced later, though we are working on it.We’ll probably do an european tour this autumn. We are also considering some summer festivals and working on some shows overseas, probably Mexico and South America, though there’s nothing confirmed yet. We hope our plans will go through this time.
– How many shows do you play per year on average, and how crazy does the schedule get?
It depends on the requests we get. Between 2012 and 2013 we played over 70 shows in Europe. In 2014 we played just a bunch of shows. Probably this year we’ll play quite a lot and hopefully next year too. The schedule sometimes get crazy, especially during tours, like when we went from UK to Belgium in one night without sleeping, on a van and with a 20-shows, no day-off schedule. When we are moving on a tour-bus it’s usually a bit more relaxing, since we can sleep while we travel.
– Could you describe what goes on in a day in your life as a musician on tour?
It’s less exciting than one might think actually. If we are travelling in a van, it’s usually very boring, with long trips, a few stops for eating and mostly trying to have a nap, since the lack of sleep is terrible. With a tour-bus is a bit more fun, since there is space to move around, sit down with other bands for a drink and a chat, listening to music, playing videogames, watching movies and such. Once we arrive at a venue, we have to unload stuff, there’s a lot of walking and sitting around, drinking, doing soundcheck, setting down the merchandise stand, eating something, trying to find a shower… If we arrive early we usually take a walk through the city and see what’s around, but unfortunately usually there’s not much time left and we spend most of the time at the venue. Still, I prefer being on tour, on the move, than sitting at home. Summer festivals are a bit more funny, since you can take a chance to see other bands playing, hanging out in VIP areas, meeting a lot of people and such.
– Do you see a biography being written someday about the experiences you acquired or will acquire in your life?
Definitely. We’ve actually been asked to write a book already, but we thought it was too early and there are too many private things that we are not ready to unveil to an audience. Maybe in 10-15 years we’ll write the biography and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be fun, if we still remember what we have done all over these years!
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